A Thought on Dino's Contract

[ECE '76]

I find it annoying that any time some little bit of success happens around here, SU fans go into a panic that the coaching staff will leave. But just seven weeks ago Dino was going to get fired if he didn't make a bowl game.

You have to be confident that the Ath Dept can hire sufficiently qualified staff to replace whoever leaves. The most recent 4 or 5 hires have been pretty good, don't you think?

But if you need to concoct all these scenarios, knock yourself out.

 

[jgeorge322]

Man, I got roasted on here last year and in the offseason for supporting Dino. 6 games later and people are praying for an extension. What a place.

 

[Trueblue25]

Give White a bump now.

The rest I’d reconsider once we hit 9 wins. Or if we can string together two bowl seasons. Want sustained success. Not going to forget about that.

 

[hoopsupstate]

You build the next contract around the staff. We will extend you earlier to keep the staff together. The money SU is making, just on the NCS, ND, and FSU attendance will more than pay for salary increases. JMA is also bringing in more money and Phillips already said the ACC will be getting additional tv revenue this season. The recruiting support staff also needs to be compensated. We’ve never had as many recruits visiting as we have seen this year. We seem to be all over NY, PA, and NJ. I understand they have several projects in the works and continued upgrades to the Dome. Wildhack is killing it. Keep the former players involved and continue to grow the program. You can see and feel a major shift taking place. Dino is a great representative for the University and is well liked by the national media.

 

[shu 49]

Ligs.

The funny thing is I cannot think of any assistant I wouldn’t want back.

We are not perfect. But, the program is headed in the right direction.

I think Dino has found his nich as a boss while his assistants are outta this world. He really wasn’t saying much on coms during play calling. Manage ur team and build the family. Pay the assistants big money cause we deserve it and good things will happen. Recruit, Recruit and Recruit.

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

Man, I got roasted on here last year and in the offseason for supporting Dino. 6 games later and people are praying for an extension. What a place.

It’s not praying for an extension. It’s looking at what’s happening now and wondering what happens next.

 

[jgeorge322]

It’s not praying for an extension. It’s looking at what’s happening now and wondering what happens next.

Not directed at you at all.

 

[corpjet]

Let me start off by saying I like Dino, his demeanor, his clean program and his character.

With all that said I feel like he’s a great GM who’s very very very reliant on the pieces around him.

Keep quality guys with him, he’ll excel (see Lewis, White, Anae/Beck), take away key cogs and he will struggle.

IMO White and Beck are the key to the future of the program, losing either of those gentleman will set us back.

 

[baggerbob]

Let me start off by saying I like Dino, his demeanor, his clean program and his character.

With all that said I feel like he’s a great GM who’s very very very reliant on the pieces around him.

Keep quality guys with him, he’ll excel (see Lewis, White, Anae/Beck), take away key cogs and he will struggle.

IMO White and Beck are the key to the future of the program, losing either of those gentleman will set us back.

Beck isn't going anywhere, his wife likes it here, and they are raising a great young family. Unless he gets a head coaching position why would he uproot his family?

 

[SuFTW]

Credit to John Wildhack for "helping" Dino come to some realizations.

Yes, because Dino wanted to stick with Gilbert.

 

[Xanadu]

We don't officially know in what year Dino's current contract terminates. Our best guess is 2024, so I'm using this as the benchmark.

Let's say Dino's contract runs through 2024. You don't let a coach enter the final year of his contract because it's impossible to recruit that way, so a decision needs to be made on Dino no later than roughly November 25, 2023.

This season, Dino has led Syracuse to bowl eligibility for the second time in his seven year tenure. Additionally, his 2017 team was competitive but ultimately lacked depth. His 2019 team had scheme and talent issues. His 2021 team had numerous misses that arguably came down to coaching. 2016 was forgivable and sometimes fun. 2020, perhaps, can be dismissed because of COVID protocols, a very young squad in several key areas, and serious QB issues.

2022, on the other hand, feels like a team on a solid foundation, with depth in numerous places. There's also indications that success could continue into 2023, given who still has eligibility remaining.

So what should Syracuse do here? If his contract runs through 2024, should Cuse reward Dino, or should they wait and see? This also assumes Dino won't leave for another job, which I personally don't think is a possibility, based on his track records here.

Here's my proposal, again with the assumption that his contract runs through 2024. I say extend him through 2025, structured around a pay raise but a more Cuse-favorable buy out. Then, build in a rolling extension, similar to what Mark Stoops gets at Kentucky. That is, if Dino makes a bowl game, another year automatically adds on to his contract.

If Dino can finally get some consistency going, a structure like that should carry him through until he decides to leave or retire.

Thoughts?

I like it, especially the use of incentives to lengthen the contract. Maybe extend him to 2026 up front and I would focus the money towards keeping talented coordinators, assistants, and support staff on the hill. Dino is at the point in his life where being the CEO HC at SU with job security and full investment into his vision in program are what he really desires. Dino has vision and vision requires security and trust to allow it to play out.

 

[Xanadu]

According to my guy in Charlottesville who is pretty tapped into the UVA culture pre, during, and post-Bronco - he claims SU should be more concerned about losing Beck wherever Bronco ends up. Said Anae was pretty livid with how things went down and C-Ville made it known to Bronco in a staff meeting, that he shouldn't have sold the rest of them down the river because he wanted to keep the DC.

Said the way that everything degraded at the end of that season, Anae wouldn't work with Bronco again (in his estimation) but didn't know if the bridge was burned with Beck. He felt like it wasn't and if Beck was offered the OC by Bronco wherever he ends up, Beck would definitely listen.

Beck would be crazy not to jump at an OC opportunity working for Bronco. I think Bronco stays out of coaching at least one more year and then jumps back in depending on what's available.

For Beck, he has a young family and hopefully that means he will want to stabilize for a couple years before he hits the OC grind. The jump from position coach to OC is a big one in terms of time investment and time away from the family.

 

[rocklloyd]

Beck isn't going anywhere, his wife likes it here, and they are raising a great young family. Unless he gets a head coaching position why would he uproot his family

She’s the wife of an assistant football coach. She’s a professional uprooter. That said, I think we are safe with this staff based on this year’s performance.

 

[Cusefan69]

You build the next contract around the staff. We will extend you earlier to keep the staff together. The money SU is making, just on the NCS, ND, and FSU attendance will more than pay for salary increases. JMA is also bringing in more money and Phillips already said the ACC will be getting additional tv revenue this season. The recruiting support staff also needs to be compensated. We’ve never had as many recruits visiting as we have seen this year. We seem to be all over NY, PA, and NJ. I understand they have several projects in the works and continued upgrades to the Dome. Wildhack is killing it. Keep the former players involved and continue to grow the program. You can see and feel a major shift taking place. Dino is a great representative for the University and is well liked by the national media.

The Recruiting staff is a good call out here. Ahmad is upped our recruiting game significantly. Especially in NJ and PA. (As an aside our NJ players have also done a great job recruiting their hometowns.) Wildhack and Dino would be smart to compensate Ahmad as well.

 

[MadNY3]

Yes, because Dino wanted to stick with Gilbert.

You mean the guy he selected less than a year before firing him?

< snicker >

 

[hoopsupstate]

Beck isn't going anywhere, his wife likes it here, and they are raising a great young family. Unless he gets a head coaching position why would he uproot his family?

$$$$$

 

[MadNY3]

Beck isn't going anywhere, his wife likes it here, and they are raising a great young family. Unless he gets a head coaching position why would he uproot his family?

Beck ain’t going from QB coach to HC. And I think we need to be realistic that happy Tweets from family members doesn’t mean they are settling.

Beck has earned an OC shot. That’s why the off-season will be interesting and we could be looking at a Detmer as QB coach in the future.

 

[jgeorge322]

Let me start off by saying I like Dino, his demeanor, his clean program and his character.

With all that said I feel like he’s a great GM who’s very very very reliant on the pieces around him.

Keep quality guys with him, he’ll excel (see Lewis, White, Anae/Beck), take away key cogs and he will struggle.

IMO White and Beck are the key to the future of the program, losing either of those gentleman will set us back.

This really isn’t unique to a head coach.

 

[RandomGuy]

Yes, because Dino wanted to stick with Gilbert.

No he didnt.

 

[Rocco]

We need White, Schmidt, Anae, Beck.

I would be shocked if White is here next year. Anae & Beck seem like a package deal, but could def see them getting a major offer from a state school.

Wildhack has been able to open up the purse strings a little bit, but we still can’t offer assistant coach money like some of the bigger programs. It just is what it is.

We need to take care of everyone else behind the scenes, too. You can tell there is a solid foundation going within that football team.

After we win the ACC Championship, we should give Dino an extension. That way it will be signed before we play in our first CFP game.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I would be shocked if White is here next year. Anae & Beck seem like a package deal, but could def see them getting a major offer from a state school.

Wildhack has been able to open up the purse strings a little bit, but we still can’t offer assistant coach money like some of the bigger programs. It just is what it is.

We need to take care of everyone else behind the scenes, too. You can tell there is a solid foundation going within that football team.

After we win the ACC Championship, we should give Dino an extension. That way it will be signed before we play in our first CFP game.

Agree, I think White will be tough to hang onto as he looks like a guy that will get HC Offers. I think we keep one of the two between Anae and Beck depending on how things shake out. Just the way it works when you have success on the field for all programs

 

[SuFTW]

No he didnt.

Yeah, that was sarcasm to make a point.

 

[SuFTW]

You mean the guy he selected less than a year before firing him?

< snicker >

The post was sarcasm to make a point.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

She’s the wife of an assistant football coach. She’s a professional uprooter. That said, I think we are safe with this staff based on this year’s performance.

Yep, the best thing to keep this staff together is to do two things:
1) Win.
2) Pay them what they're worth.

You do those two things and you create a culture that shows these coaches that they can accomplish whatever they want to here just as easily as at any other place. Obviously, there will always be "destination" jobs, but keeping these guys together is a lot easier if a winning culture is created.

 

[MadNY3]

The post was sarcasm to make a point.

My kingdom for a sarcasm font...sorry.